Progressive Magazine: Perspective on North Korea

Matthew Rothschild

From Progressive.org - When the current Korean crisis emerged, I immediately contacted the wisest person I know on the subject. His name is Gene Matthews, and he spent decades in South Korea as a missionary who was active in the pro-democracy movement there. He’s a contributor to a great new book called “More Than Witnesses: How a Small Group of Missionaries Aided Korea’s Democratic Revolution.” Here’s what he has to say about the current standoff. “North Korea has always felt threatened by joint military exercises of the U.S. and South Korea, and has always protested against them,” he says. “This time, North Korea stated that the exercises were taking place in North Korean territory and that if shots were fired during the exercise they would retaliate.

Shots were fired (not at the North, it should be pointed out but out toward the ocean) and the North retaliated.” What’s saddest about this standoff, he says, is that it shows how far relations have slid in the last fifteen years. Read full column here:

Progressive Magazine: Perspective on North Korea